The First Samurai: SHOGUN Samurai Coco Nutrients

Paul

18 Sep 2014

After launching a hugely successful range of growth promoters and flowering boosters, SHOGUN Fertilisers now makes its first foray into the nutrient market with a rather special dedicated coco feed. Even though the products are nice and easy to use, there’s an incredible amount of science underpinning the way that they work – some aspects of which have never been seen before! Could the revolutionary technology involved help transform your coco crop? 100% yes!

Why were the SHOGUN Samurai Coco Nutrients developed?

One of the great things about the coco growing method is that it sits perfectly between hydroponics and soil gardening, producing well-balanced results both in terms of yields and fruit quality. Noting the passionate and ever-expanding legion of coco enthusiasts, SHOGUN Fertilisers aimed to create a selection of nutrients truly capable of satisfying their very particular requirements…

The design of SHOGUN Samurai Coco Nutrients actually takes into account the behavioural traits of plants grown in coco and indeed the nature of the medium itself, promising to push overall performance to the absolute max. Evidently refusing to do things by halves, SHOGUN Fertilisers have invested serious time and effort into the research of exciting innovations, the sourcing of premium standard ingredients and the experimentation necessary to find a harmonious mix.

Still you’ve heard this all before, right? Guess it’s time to further explore the facts and delve into the more technical details!

The Main Objective

When SHOGUN Samurai Nutrients were in the main stages of development, the research team set out to identify and manipulate the key factors that aid nutritional uptake from the root zone and via penetration of the leaf surface. This focus led to tests on how certain compounds can positively affect a plant, ultimately seeing important breakthroughs materialise concerning respiration, nutrient assimilation, enzyme driven responses and surfactant chemistry (explained later).

Not one but two distinctive new formulations emerged from the process described above – dubbed “SmartZen Maximiser” and “AquaZen Slow Water” – and each of these elements plays a central role in the effectiveness of SHOGUN Samurai Coco Nutrients.

What is SmartZen Maximiser?

SmartZen Maximiser is a natural product made from a special blend of plant fibres, plant derived compounds and plant sugars. It will deliver a number of advantages in the following areas:

Mitochondrial Respiration Enhancement

Improves nutrient uptake and growth

Encourages better stomata control

Enhances respiration by up to 45%

Early growth is often limited by slow respiration due to poor phosphate uptake. In this test SmartZen Maximiser increased early season growth of wheat by 24%

Nutrient Assimilation

Better chlorophyll density

Boosts the rate of photosynthesis

Improves nutrient uptake and translocation

SmartZen Maximiser helps with the uptake and translocation of the key nutrients involved in chlorophyll synthesis to significantly increase chlorophyll density. Improvements in chlorophyll density and in photosynthetic rates can be dramatic.

Enzyme Driven Responses

Stronger root growth and functionality

Increased reproductive activity

Better regulated germination, rooting and flowering

One of the most consistent responses from SmartZen Maximiser is the increase in root growth. This effect has been attributed to changes in hormonal balances due to enzyme-driven responses.

The culmination of changes that a plant undergoes as a result of SmartZen Maximiser will lead to average increased yields of 6-8% compared against standard NPK formulas. That's not to say more isn't possible!

Early Growth

Control vs NPK vs NPK + SmartZen Maximiser

Chlorophyll Density

Control vs NPK vs NPK + SmartZen Maximiser

Root Growth

Top: treated with SmartZen Maximiser / Bottom: untreated

Control vs NPK vs NPK + SmartZen Maximiser

Foliage

Left: untreated / Right: treated with SmartZen Maximiser

What is AquaZen Slow Water?

AquaZen Slow Water is a media surfactant – a compound that lowers the surface tension between a liquid and a solid. It has been incorporated into the design of SHOGUN Samurai Coco Nutrients to help improve how nutrient solutions spread through the growing media. Why exactly? Well, to properly understand you need to know a little bit about “false drain” and the relevance of this process to coco plants.

Issues caused by False Drain

The correct volume of water and nutrients to give to plants growing in coco can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint because the media occasionally limits the movement of a solution if a certain threshold is exceeded. Such a scenario instead sees the solution end up around the edges of pots – a “false drain”.

On top of the restricted flow of nutrient solution, the regulation of conductivity may also suffer too in coco. Consequently, even free-to-move nutrients still run the risk of not being accessible to plants.

Surfactant Chemistry

Thankfully AquaZen Slow Water directly addresses these issues, supporting the principles of SmartZen Maximiser to aid lateral movement of nutrients and stimulants through the growing media. This provides the following benefits:

Excellent initial wetting of the growing medium

Maximum uptake of water and nutrients

Improved irrigation efficiency and lower application rates

Increased root activity to boost nutrient availability

Greater uniformity of CF/EC

Maintained yields in the event of water reductions of 40%

The superior level of lateral movement that SHOGUN Samurai Coco Nutrients can achieve over competing brands was evident in trials carried out with Grodan rockwool. Here the bottom piece of slab featuring the surfactant shows significantly more water movement than the top piece of slab containing untreated solution, and there’s a good even spread all the way down. Closer inspection of the top piece of slab also reveals a lot of water congregating at the edge, obviously demonstrating false drain – not a desirable occurrence!

In summary then, SHOGUN Samurai Coco Nutrients are pretty amazing! The combination of the SmartZen Maximiser and AquaZen Slow Water formulations really do stand the products out from the crowd and should have coco enthusiasts jumping for joy at the exciting possibilities of bigger yields and better crop quality! All of the research and testing now looks to be paying off and ultimately it’s you, the coco grower, who will reap the final rewards!

SHOGUN Samurai Coco Nutrientsare sold in universal A+B sets that suit hard and soft water. For best results, use alongside the additives and boosters in the SHOGUN range at a dilution rate of 2-4ml per litre.

Did you know? Coco has an unusual chemical characteristic - it releases potassium into the nutrients for the entire duration of the plant life cycle. At times this can be a slight hindrance to the uptake of certain important elements, with the most notable two being calcium and magnesium. SHOGUN CalMag ensures your plants access plenty of these essential nutrients and, unlike competing brands, also delivers a vital boost of another crucial one short in supply - iron. Applied from start to finish as a root feed and/or foliar spray, the super stimulant will aid the uptake and translocation of nutrients and significantly improve plant health!

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Growing organically? Biobizz is a must - it's 100% organic and lets you grow as nature intended!
Biobizz was first launched more than 25 years ago. It quickly became the first Dutch nutrient range to be Skal and OMRI certified as fully organic. Today, it holds 7 different organic certifications and is sold in 64 countries worldwide.
Here's everything you need to know about the range.